The evaluative work done by the Independent Evaluation Group offers several insights and lessons for the World Bank Group’s future engagement with Mozambique. Access some of the insights through the resources offered below.
Clarification: Media Reporting on the Findings of the Independent Evaluation Group on the World Bank Group Program in Mozambique
In its report, The World Bank Group in Mozambique, Fiscal Years 2008–21, the Independent Evaluation Group neither concludes nor implies that the World Bank Group is in any way responsible for the actions of the Government of Mozambique. The report is solely focused on the actions of the World Bank Group, and is not an assessment of either the policies or actions of the Government of Mozambique. The report does not hold the World Bank Group responsible for any actions taken by the Government of Mozambique. This is the case with the 2016 financial scandal now commonly referred to as ‘Hidden Debts.’ The causes of this scandal are for the Government of Mozambique to investigate.
Evaluation: Evaluation of World Bank Support to Mozambique: Key Findings and Lessons
This Country Program Evaluation reviews World Bank Group engagement in and support to Mozambique during fiscal years (FY)08–FY21. It assesses the extent to which the Bank Group’s support was relevant to the country’s main development challenges and drivers of fragility and the evolution and adaptation of support over time.
Blog: Lessons from a Success Story That Strayed
An evaluation of the World Bank’s engagement in Mozambique between 2008 and 2021 finds that purely technical solutions to development challenges are unlikely to achieve desired results unless governance constraints are also confronted.
Evaluation: Evaluation of World Bank Support for Domestic Revenue Mobilization: Summary
Domestic revenue mobilization (DRM) has become an increasingly important part of international and country-level development policy agendas. Since the 2015 International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, DRM has risen in importance in the international policy agenda, figuring prominently in successive International Development Association (IDA) replenishments and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development capital package commitment.
Blog: Moving from numbers to facts: improving data quality in debt sustainability analyses
The credibility of debt sustainability assessments depends on the availability and quality of data on a country’s stock of public and publicly guaranteed debt, including whether the data are timely, accurate and include all debt-producing liabilities. IEG finds that greater attention is needed to assess debt data quality in debt sustainability analyses.
Blog: Borrow wisely, spend wisely: supporting public financial and debt management in low-income countries
Sound management of public finance is critical to fiscal discipline and the efficient and effective use of scarce public resources. Weaknesses in public financial management and debt management (PFDM) can have wide-ranging implications for development, including by driving a wedge between public policy and its implementation.
A new report from IEG assesses the impact of efforts to promote sound PFDM, which is now more important than ever in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and as an increasing number of low-income countries (LICs) find themselves again at high risk of, or in, debt distress.
Blog: Here we go again: Debt sustainability in low-income countries
Unambiguously, the COVID pandemic has made things worse, but it is worth remembering that the resurgence in debt stress in LICs was evident and under active discussion in policy circles well before February 2020.
Since 2013, the number of countries eligible for concessional financing from the World Bank at high risk of, or in, debt distress has almost tripled (from 13 to 35 (33 in 2019)) and the average debt-to-GDP ratio has increased from about 40% to 60%. This occurred alongside significant support from the international community (and the World Bank in particular) to improve the debt management capacity of LICs. Despite this, and against a backdrop of persistently low global interest rates, median interest payments from LICs rose 128% between 2013 and 2018.
